Ellis Monroe Johnson

Ellis Monroe Johnson, was born October 20, 1944 in Achille,Oaklahoma to Ellis and Eva Johnson. He was the oldest of six children, 2 brothers, and 3 sisters. His family came to California where he was raised. Ellis attended high school, through the 11th grade at which time he stopped attending school so that he could work in order to assistance his family. It wasn’t long after he started working at the age of 17, Ellis met Judith Ann Hamilton, 16 and by April 6, 1962, not more than 6 months of knowing one another, the two of them landed on the footsteps of the San Jose court house to be married; to become man and wife for 54 years, to be together for richer or poorer, in good and in bad times, in sickness and in health, and in the end, “till death do us part”. Judith Ann was the love of Ellis’s life, and he knew that, even at the young age of 17.

Ellis and Judy were blessed with 3 daughters and 1 son; Cathryn Denise, Timonthy Monroe, Tammy Irene and Tonya Marie Ann,

10 grandchildren, Tara, Timonty Jr, Anthony, Justinea, Joseph, Sereena, Kia, Joshua, Brandon and Faith

4 great grandchildren Austinn, Jacob, Kaydence and Kali and 1 dog named Buddy.

Ellis’s primary occupation was a Heavy Duty Mechanic for 25 years and 6 years as a Service Manager. Ellis had many hobbies which included a passion for fishing, boating, camping, he loved to play softball. He loved to build patios, arbors, bbq islands, he loved to build anything which required using his hands, his skills and using HIS ideas. He enjoyed playing endless hours of Horseshoes and Mexican train and dominoes. Although Ellis had no interest in ships, his final favorite hobby became sailing the ocean on cruise ships, 3 trips to be exact. Although there were many awards he had received, his most prized memory for a potential award was missing the win for a championship game in St. George Utah for Senior Softball, the team missed it by 1 run, but he was excited about a $10,000 jackpot that he won in Reno in June of 1991.

In 2007, Ellis was able to retire at the age of 63. He and Judy lived fulltime in their motorhome named “The Dreamcatcher”. He traveled many roads, seen many states, stopped in various Indian reservations and loved Sedona Arizona. He made frequent trips back to California to see his family before he parked his RV in Sallisaw, Oklahoma in 2011 and lived there for 4 years. He continued with his passion of fishing and boating and learned the ways of the south and for those who knew him would say he became a fine “fishing entrepreneur”. Ellis loved being back in Oklahoma, he had the opportunity to spend time with a few remaining maternal members of his family, he met many wonderful people, made lots of friends, some of which are now called family. Ellis was proud to be Native Indian Mississippi Choctaw.

It was decided by Ellis and Judy after returning from a trip to California in May of 2014, that is was time to start their journey back to their children, his grandchildren, back to California where it had all started. January 16, 2015 Ellis and Judy settled into the city of Hughson California where for the past 16 months, he had the opportunity to be close to all of those he cherished. On May 2, at 8:05 am he was pronounced dead by his daughter and Ellis entered into the arms of his savior. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Tonya Marie Ann.